President Obama was re-elected yesterday, and we wish him well. But the news is already ancient, given the pressing demands of defusing the fiscal cliff threat–a deep round of tax hikes and spending cuts slated to start in January if politicians don’t intervene. Failure isn’t an option here, given the dire effects these cuts and tax hikes could inflict on the still-struggling economy. Unfortunately, that’s the likely scenario if politics as usual prevails in the weeks ahead. It’s hard to imagine anything else at the moment, given the rancorous, hyper-partisan atmosphere that’s defined the Beltway bunch for the past year.